The Compact Crossover segment has changed a bit since last month, as the Honda CR-V enjoyed strong demand en route to over 20k monthly sales. Rogue had a strong month as well, but still ended up about 5k units shy of last month’s segment leader, the Ford Escape. Terrain seems to be going a bit weak compared to recent months, and even Equinox was down a bit from its July 2009 number. Sportage is way off ahead of its new model rollout, but once the 2011s come in, expect Kia cute ute to mix things up in the 7k-ish and above monthly volume range.

Just last week the faithful gathered here at TTAC to debate the relevance of motorsport to the business of selling cars. But good Saint Chapman, it seems, had already noticed that Formula One cars rarely resemble anything available to the buying public. And lo, he instructed his one true church to sell a car that changes all that. Thus was born the Lotus T125, a 630 HP, 1,433-lb, F1-style trackday car complete with Cosworth V8, carbon fiber everything and sequential gearbox. And lo, the Ferrari 599xx felt a bit silly, and Chapman saw that it was good. Deliveries of the T125 will begin in April 2011, for a small offering of around one million American dollars. [Autocar]

The C-segment did not have a great July, especially compared to July 2009’s Cash-for-Clunker-inspired clamor for compact cars. The three exceptions were the Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte and Mitsubishi Lancer, which all handily beat their July 2009 numbers. If you’re getting sick of the “Hyundai momentum” storyline, look elsewhere. On the other hand, with production of 2012s underway, the lame-duck Focus has settled into a 15k-month routine (actually averaging about 14,500 over the last 12 months), and Cobalt is falling away as Lordstown tools up for the Cruze. And with a new Elantra due by the end of this year, real competition in this segment is only just beginning.

Automotive News [sub] takes a stab at calculating the numbers that Detroit doesn’t want you to see. Best of all, AN says the numbers are based on “internal documents.” During this morning’s financial results conference call, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne railed against AN’s “crusade,” implying that the industry paper of record is nursing a vendetta against Chrysler… which is usually a good sign that a media outlet is doing its job well. It’s also a sign that Marchionne knows his firm’s fleet dependence is a problem.

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So far, auto marketers and market analysts have focused on the more than a billion people in China who do not have a car. This will remain a lucrative target for a long time. China Economic Daily has identified another attractive target group. People who already have a car. (Read More…)

Of the “Big Six” midsize sedans, Malibu is starting to emerge as a consistent number three to the Camry/Accord’s established one-two positioning. Fusion and Altima have swapped spots, and the Sonata is stuck at 17k units due to production capacity constraints. Meanwhile, the Impala is only just holding off… the Prius? Crazier still, the Prius/Impala 14k volume level is about double of the next best-selling mid-to-large sedan nameplates (Buick LaCrosse, Nissan Maxima, Dodge Charger are all in the 6k-7k level). Extended one-month chart after the jump…

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Another month, another sales record for Hyundai/Kia. At this point, it’s getting tough to expect anything else. Elantra took top honors for the Korean concern last month, as Hyundai USA CEO John Krafcik confirms that sales of the new Sonata and the Santa Fe are both capacity restrained at this point. Krafcik tells Automotive News [sub] that an undisclosed US production capacity increase is in the works, as Hyundai is selling Sonata and Santa Fe faster than they can build them. Soul and Sorento are hitting their stride for Kia as well, with the Soul cresting 8k units last month and the Sorento topping 9k. But perhaps one of the best signs that Hyundai/Kia are in a good place is that only the aging Accent failed to beat its Cash-for-Clunker-driven July 2009 number. We’ll see what happens next month, but further out, Krafcik tells AN [sub] that Hyundai is targeting a 50 MPG fleet average for 2025. Even with no plans to sell pickups in the US, Hyundai’s prospects look bright in this market.

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Toyota pulled back on incentives last month, and paid the price with a 6.8 percent decline in sales compared to July 2009. Between this and the fact that year-over-year comparisons are skewed by July 2009‘s Cash-For-Clunkers effect, it’s almost no surprise that Toyota’s smaller and value-oriented models were almost uniformly down on the month. But a look at last July’s report shows that the Yaris, Corolla and the Scions actually lost volume during the first month of Cash-For-Clunkers. A similar situation is playing out at Honda, where the Fit has fallen for the second July in a row, and the Civic dropped hard after gaining only three percent last July. Stranger still: both firms, which earned their US market spurs on the back of efficient cars, beat their July 2009 “truck” numbers but failed to match car volume. My, how things change!

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Nissan may have broken its own incentive record last month, but it was GM that blew the lid off the competition. According to Edmunds’ True Cost Of Incentives Index, The General loaded up nearly $1,000 more in incentive spending compared to its closest competitors, and killed the industry average by $1,340. Combined, Detroit spent $1.7 billion, or 57.3 percent of the total incentive expenditures last month. And according to Edmunds,

Analysis of incentives expenditures as a percentage of average sticker price for each segment shows large cars averaged the highest, 13.5 percent, followed by large trucks at 12.4 percent of sticker price. Premium luxury cars averaged the lowest with 3.5 percent and sport cars followed with 3.9 percent of sticker price.

Ford may have beat its July 2009 number last month, but sales at the Blue Oval brand still fell compared to the month before. Perhaps more embarrassing still is the fact that the recently-canceled Mercury brand managed to move more volume than Lincoln, despite the fact that both brands underperformed compared to both June 2010 and July 2009.

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Set the way-back machine to our July 2009 Chrysler Group sales post, and a certain amount of deja-vu might just set in. Last Summer, Chrysler’s version of success was a mere single-digit percentage volume decline. This July, Chrysler’s big accomplishment was a five percent improvement over last July’s number. Last July we thought the Chrysler brand in particular was “toast,” and based on this July’s numbers, we can’t say we’ve found much to change that opinion, as ChryCo’s eponymous brand dropped 11 percent year-over-year, and shed over 3k units of volume compared to June. Chrysler Town & Country outsold the rest of the brand alone at 8,083 units, an 18 percent gain.

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Yes, GM’s “core brands” Chevy, Buick, GMC and Cadillac combined for a 25 percent improvement over their Cash-4-Clunker-fueled July 2009 performance, although The General moved so many Pontiacs and Saturns during July of ’09 that overall sales were up only an anemic 5.5 percent. Because C4C boosted sales of value-oriented models last July, Chevrolet was up a mere 12 percent, while GMC was up 27.2 percent. The big gains in year-over-year volume came from Buick and Cadillac, which 136 and 141 percent combined. In short, every year-over-year number we’re looking at has been deeply skewed by last year’s C4C program, meaning volume numbers and month-to-month numbers will be the keys to properly analyzing this month’s sales results.
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Noticed that things have been a little slower around here this week? Yes, well, it’s summer and I’m much harder to motivate in the summer. Also, I’ve been working on this op-ed on the Chevy Volt for the New York Times. My conclusion on the Volt?

In the end, making the bailout work — whatever the cost — is the only good reason for buying a Volt. The car is not just an environmental hair shirt (a charge leveled at the Prius early in its existence), it is an act of political self-denial as well.

If G.M. were honest, it would market the car as a personal donation for, and vote of confidence in, the auto bailout. Unfortunately, that’s not the kind of cross-branding that will make the Volt a runaway success.

OK, so none of these cars are actually “competition” for the Chevrolet Volt, but think of them as a benchmark “basket” and they can help define the market the Volt will soon be thrown into. (Read More…)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a moment we’ve been waiting for for some time… which might explain why the news isn’t particularly earth-shattering [press release here]. Yes, believe it or not, the Volt will cost $41,000 base including destination charge, just as every bit of speculation has indicated since the Volt was first announced. Perhaps more surprising is GM’s announcement of lease deals starting at $350/month for 36 months with $2,500 down. But just as GM has found with its CTS,  moving high-cost American-branded metal in any kind of volume tends to require heavy dependence on leases. Plus, the fact that the big question mark surrounding EVs in general continues to be long-term battery life makes leasing the obvious option for those who are tempted by the Volt, but don’t want own a lot of expensive, unproven technology. On the other hand, the Feds don’t subsidize EV leases, and with a Federal tax credit, the Volt’s price drops to a mere $33,500… which is less than a thousand dollars more than the Nissan Leaf’s base price (without tax credit, $25,280 with).  Obviously the Volt has certain advantages due to its EREV design, but with the economy still shaky, the Volt’s hefty price premium will work against it, especially as volume builds. Seeing how these two very different EVs do relative to one another will make for some interesting lessons about the future of the electric car.